Our coffemaker “requires” a disposeable water filter and we’ve always used them. But they’re becoming harder and harder to get, and they’re kind of pricey. Lots of you have coffee makers that use water filters as well.
My question is, have you ever tossed out the filter and made coffee without it? (I am not talking about the paper coffee filter—which we always use.)
If yes, to what effect? Does the coffee tastes as good as it did when you used the water filter? Does the machine get gummed up? Other observations?
Out of curiosity, whay kind of coffee machine? I have a Cuisinart that uses a charcoal filtering system, but it works just fine without the filter in place (although I do use them now, our local tap water is terrible, so I use a Britra pitcher and the coffee maker water filter to make coffee).
Most tap water is perfectly fine to drink- especially with something with as strong of a flavor as coffee. Many bottled waters are nothing more than tap water.
If you have hard water, your machine may become cloudy with mineral deposits, and some of the tetchier ones may start to leak or spew water somewhere they shouldn’t. A quick clean once a month with distilled vinegar will remove those deposits.
We have a Cuisinart, too. I really love the coffee it makes.
We have a well, and the water’s hard enough that we have a watersoftening system - but I had the plumber bypasss the kitchen sink because the salt would be detrimental to my wife’s health.
So, if I took water from another sink to make coffee with it, would the salt be cooked out of in the process of making coffee? Hmm, I think not. I doubt that heat would somehow drive out Na and Cl ions.
Ah, but what about bottled water? Is it devoid of salts and hardening agents?
Bottled spring water or distilled water would work fine. No chlorine taste to affect the coffee that way.
(and excess chorine in water can SERIOUSLY mess up the taste of coffee—excess iron does too ---- Excess sulpher can make you want to puke).
And bottled water is not all that expensive considering how little water you use to make coffee. Distilled or spring water here costs about 70 cents a gallon. Can make a lotta good tasting coffee that way cheaply
I use a Brita filter myself. Which is even cheaper than bottled.
Heathen. Coffee is 99% water. If you don’t want the main ingredient to be high-quality, why bother?
As for the coffee-maker filter - if this is the one I think it is, the machine came with a filter-shaped dummy cartridge to occupy the space so you don’t accidentally over-fill it.